Broadcasters Line Up New Mobile Apps For TV Brands

BBC Worldwide is swelling its mobile app portfolio, after finding some success with earlier launches. It already publishes several, paid iPhone apps for its Good Food and Top Gear brands, as well as for Gavin & Stacey and The Mighty Boosh and its Lonely Planet guides, which it discounted successfully during this year’s Icelandic volcano eruption.

Broadcast reports: “There will be an element of incremental pricing to add more levels to some of the games.”

Meanwhile, after Ofcom’s determination this month that broadcasters can use mobile apps to invite TV viewers’ participation in shows, ITV (LSE: ITV) is developing paid voting apps for I’m A Celebrity and other shows, Marketing magazine supposes: “Sources suggest the apps – awaiting approval by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) – will be available via the technology brand’s App Store. They will enable viewers to buy “voting credits” to interact with their favourite programmes.”

Channel 5 is debuting a £19.99 Magic Desktop application for its Milkshake kids segment, including Peppa Pig, The Mr Men, Fifi and the Flowertots, NMA says.

And developer Zattika has scooped the rights to build mobile games around the Monty Python franchise, ME says.

Incidentally, TopSpeed, “a tribute to the famous TV series Top Gear in which your mission is to drive way too fast on the motorway”, is not BBC Worldwide’s own.